Who is spreading rumors that my filial piety towards them has changed?

Looking at this handsome and robust young man, Li Lu's eyes were full of admiration and appreciation, thinking to herself that it was no wonder her daughter was so attached to him.

"You've really grown up. The last time I saw you, you were about the same height as me, but this time you're so much taller than me. And I hear about you everywhere I go. You've really grown up completely!"

"It's not like there are rumors everywhere. Before I even executed the Crown Prince, my reputation was already quite well-known in the capital," Chu Mingkong said modestly, leading the way into Qingxin Mansion to take a seat.

Along the way, Chu Mingkong also explained the arrangement of the Wei family's old site.

The old site of the Wei family is a bit far from Tianya City, which may cause some inconvenience for future visits. However, Chu Mingkong has already asked Tianya Tower to buy back the old site of the Wei family in recent days, and now he wants to build a mansion for the Wei family in Tianya City.

It will not affect most of the clansmen returning to their ancestral home, but there are other Wei family members in Qingning who can stay in Qingxin Mansion for convenient communication when needed.

After Li Lu sat down, she shook her head helplessly and smiled:

"Mingkong, you don't want the Wei family to come back and observe temporarily. You clearly want to force them to stay. You've already prepared everything and aren't even letting them consider it."

"Whether I stay or not in the future, I don't think it's necessary to care about these things. Even if I really have to leave in the future, what's the big deal about leaving one or two mansions? I can still come back to visit, and when I come back, I can live like a normal person."

"That's true, but we have to wait until all the elders arrive before we can discuss these site selections. I can't make a decision on my own. They probably won't arrive until much later than me, and it may take two or three days to reach a conclusion."

"It's alright. Choosing a residence isn't like changing clothes. What matters is living comfortably for a long time. We should take our time choosing."

“Alright, then Mingkong, tell me more about your uncle Wei Zhong?” Li Lu asked with concern, putting down her teacup and looking at him earnestly with her bright eyes.

After Wei Zhong brought his clan to the capital, he initially had connections in the capital to manage all aspects of the Wei family's affairs, and they quickly established themselves in that unfamiliar place. However, he disappeared not long afterward.

The Wei family was suddenly leaderless, and the last news they received came from Chu Mingkong through Qingning.

Actually, Chu Mingkong and Qing Ning have already said most of what needed to be said. The things he might hide are just trivial matters. Now, Li Lu is personally asking him about his thoughts, which may seem redundant, but her feelings are understandable.

Chu Mingkong then went into more detail. Now that Qingning and he had become familiar with each other again and could trust each other, he was less worried about Qingning not being able to accept anything. He also mentioned the details that he had previously omitted.

The secondary point is the appearance of Wei Zhong and the details of his enmity with him.

The important point is his reason for cooperating with the emperor. The soul of the King of Xiling was transferred into the emperor's body, and then, due to the power of extreme yin, he had a deep cooperation with the King of Xiling early on. Moreover, he concealed his whereabouts and went out to do business because he did not want to implicate his clansmen.

Seeing that Qingning and Li Lu's tea had gone cold, Chu Mingkong brewed them two new cups, saying as he did so:

"Although I don't know much about witchcraft, I've learned from my experience over the past few days that it has a long history and involves many things. Uncle Wei had no choice but to keep his actions from the clan without saying a word."

Furthermore, he instructed me to take good care of Qingning and the Wei family, presumably because he foresaw the future of the Tianji Empire and wanted you to return to Xiling first.

"so......"

Holding the tea, Li Lu felt a chill in her heart, unable to ascertain her husband's whereabouts, especially given the words he had entrusted her with that were tantamount to a final farewell...

The price left behind by the ancestors of witchcraft is being paid by their descendants, whose overall power has weakened. Isn't this a case of no return?

Sometimes, knowing something can be more unsettling than not knowing it.

When you don't know, at least you have something to look forward to. But when you do know, and it's not good news, it's essentially the same as receiving bad news!

She got up and walked around to distract herself, relieve her emotions, and regain her composure.

However, she was still too worried about the future. When she got up, she forgot to smooth her dress. The thin dress sank into the crevice of her peach-shaped buttocks, outlining the ripe and full contours of her body.

That was somewhat impolite and inappropriate.

Chu Mingkong didn't speak. At this moment, saying anything comforting would only disturb his peace of mind. A quiet environment was the best tranquilizer.

Once Li Lu sat down again, Chu Mingkong tried to bring up the topic of Gui Chong.

He asked, "By the way, Qingning said that you were also delayed because of the Ghostly Spirit before returning to Xiling. What was that incident?"

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The person in Jin has drifted to the point of losing contact.

"It was a rather rare ghost, and the clan elders spent a lot of effort to get rid of it. As for that ghost, well..." Li Lu paused, thinking for a moment to describe it: "It seemed a bit like it was man-made, but that's not quite accurate. It should be said that it was a newly pieced-together ghost."

Most ghosts are man-made, right? Without immense resentment generated from interactions with people during one's lifetime, it's impossible for a ghost to manifest.

But if the word "patchwork" is mentioned, Chu Mingkong has a feeling. Isn't Jin the King's "patchwork" experimental base?

"Please tell me in detail, Auntie!" He sensed that there might be some progress in understanding the situation of that small town.

"There's an abandoned old mansion where people have been dying one after another. Some of them went in out of curiosity, some were homeless people, and others were gangs..."

A large number of people died inexplicably inside, causing widespread panic in the town. Our Wei family happened to be staying there, so we thought we'd help deal with it. If we didn't act quickly, the stench of the corpses after the snow would cause illness.

Wei Qingning had recently been troubled by the "resurrection town" in Jin, and now that she had heard a clue from her mother, she urged impatiently:

"And then, what kind of vengeful ghost is inside?"

"The elders tried to lure the ghost out, but after wasting two days, it still hadn't come out, which is quite unreasonable."

Until one of the clansmen accidentally discovered a gaze fixed on him from the wall of the mansion, and he was shocked to find that there was an eye staring at him from the wall.

After consulting with the town, we dug down the wall. Inside were piles of monster and demon corpses, some pieced together, and whether they wanted to preserve them or were afraid of being discovered, they stuffed them into the holes in the wall.

Now the elders understood why they couldn't lure out the ghost: the entire house had become a ghostly entity!

"Ugh... How disgusting." Wei Qingning curled her lip. "So the situation is that someone there was secretly stuffing the corpses of demons and monsters into the walls for some reason. Later, when the yin energy gathered, it transformed into a ghost that possessed those corpses, and the whole house became haunted?"

“That should be the case.” Li Lu’s answer came from the elders’ guess at the time. “Later, we simply burned down the entire mansion and also burned the bodies of the people who had died inside, to prevent them from rotting and causing disease later.”

Chu Mingkong estimated that this was most likely the "legacy" left behind by the emperor and Prince Jin's group!

He still clearly remembered that on the night Pei Mi was attacked and wanted to stay outside, the emperor sent someone with a water demon from the abyss, which infiltrated the barrier without anyone noticing.

The appearance of that water ghost indicates that the emperor and his entourage were already exploring more possibilities for "pieced together," whether it was extreme abyss transformation or simply piecing things together. These all required a lot of attempts, using the number of attempts to increase the success rate.

However, there weren't enough ghosts and monsters in Jin to catch for them to accumulate attempts, so they had to "open up new sources" by slaying demons and monsters from other places and acquiring corpses to try their luck.

The way they hid it in the wall was probably to prevent it from being discovered, to store it discreetly, and to take it out only when needed.

As it happened, the resentment emanated from the corpses and became a new type of ghost.

A true "haunted house" is not one where ghosts roam, but one where the house itself is a giant ghost!

If the land in Jin was also a "legacy" left by the King of Jin, and it encountered resentment and ghosts that gave rise to some new species, then it would be understandable that Qingning and Yun Nongyu's knowledge points did not match.

However... isn't it a bit too fierce of this ghost to be able to recreate an entire town so vividly?

"Auntie, let me tell you about the ghostly encounter Qingning and I had at the Gu family's house..."

He recounted everything in detail until he and Qingning finished testing the "resurrected Qiao'er" and left that strange yet ordinary town.

The beautiful woman in the black dress and hairpin immediately pressed on with the question:

"You're saying that Qiao'er is already pregnant? And that Qiao'er has become a ghost?"

“Yes, I personally ‘made an enemy of Qiao’ and sent her away. She still harassed the Gu family for a while.” Chu Mingkong nodded.

"Did you encounter her ghost baby?" Li Lu pressed.

"No, what do you mean?"

"Well... a mother and an infant can be considered conjoined in terms of their aura. If they were to become ghosts, both would essentially become ghosts together, and the infant's resentment would be even stronger. That Miss Qiao'er is so weak, yet she caused a ruckus in the Gu family for several days without causing any major trouble..."

To put it bluntly, the fact that Gui Chong managed to cause trouble in the dream for several days without any problems is because he was too "kind" and weak, mostly because his power was concentrated on the baby.

"That ghost infant shouldn't have remained hidden. And Mingkong, don't let your guard down just because the ghost infant is small. Ordinary ghosts retain some of their consciousness and concepts from their previous life, which might make them particularly vicious towards their enemies. But the ghost infant doesn't have those concepts. It simply vents its resentment uncontrollably, and its ferocity is even greater than that of a normal large ghost!"

You don't need to emphasize this to me. Just seeing the "revival" of that small town makes it hard to let your guard down, no matter how carefree you are...

----------

The three masters and disciples in the Taoist temple went into a brothel and had a great time.

The old master took the lead, bringing a girl who didn't seem so fierce into the room and showing her concern.

The second senior brother, Huai, followed closely behind, leading a girl whose face looked quite similar to that of the snake spirit to provide humanitarian care.

The third brother, Yan Tiangan, was still too reserved. Although a girl had been placed in his room, he only chatted awkwardly for a few minutes before meditating, feeling that he could preserve his primordial yang energy a little longer.

But somehow, the three of them, despite their good cultivator physiques, actually fell asleep in a daze!

Senior Brother Huai woke up first, touched the ground beside him, and found himself lying on the street. He immediately uttered a refined remark:

"Damn it, what kind of person is this? They left me on the street before I was even fully awake? I don't think I've paid them yet."

After confirming that his kidneys were alright, Senior Brother Huai stretched, but his movements suddenly froze, and he silently rubbed his eyes.

What came into view was an unfamiliar town, definitely not the place where the three of them had entered the brothel.

Looking around, all that could be seen was devastation. The streets were littered with the remains of people who had died tragically, their limbs torn apart, with faint traces of stitches still visible.

At the same time, a powerful surge of resentment gathered in a certain place in the town, so strong that it could be seen with the naked eye.

Using the resentment of an entire town to exorcise ghosts—it's unimaginable what kind of things could possibly emerge from that!

Brother Huai knew that the overwhelming sense of oppression meant that running away was useless, so he quickly calmed down.

"I've encountered a ghost again? Is this thing just targeting me? I can't run away. What will happen to Master and Junior Brother if I run away?"

He glanced at his master and junior brother, who were still unconscious on the ground, took out his and his master's life-protecting jade pendants, crushed them together, sent a distress signal to the Taoist sect, and at the same time deployed a solid shield to protect the three of them.

Immediately afterward, Senior Brother Huai calmly and solemnly said, "Escaping is useless, but playing dead might be useful!"

He lay down on the ground, and the three of them lay down together, waiting for rescue.

......

On the same day, Yun Nongyu received another message from the Taoist sect.

Elder Yun, does His Highness Chu really dislike Yan Tiangan that much? The three of them, master and disciple, have run into trouble again in Jin...

He got himself into trouble while trying to save someone, and so much time has passed. If he had just saved Yan Tiangan in Jinbao City and gone straight back, he would have left Jin by now, right?

After muttering to herself, Yun Nongyu replied:

"There is something I'm not sure if I should say, but His Highness is currently chatting with the current mistress of the Wei family in Xiling and hasn't gone to cause trouble for Yan Tiangan and his fellow disciples."

Chapter Thirty: Dark Eyes

"Let's get this straight first. In my life, especially when it comes to revenge, I, Chu, never let anyone do it for me. So please don't think I secretly ordered someone to ambush that little Taoist priest." Chu Mingkong declared sternly, as if announcing some kind of unyielding bottom line.

He may be too lazy to do many trivial things himself, but when it comes to revenge, he has never asked anyone for help.

For someone as magnanimous as him to hold a grudge, it basically means he's determined to take action personally. As for those he's too lazy to take action against, he's naturally too lazy to even hold a grudge against them.

"Of course I know that, and I will not suspect Your Highness. Since Your Highness only caused that young man some minor injuries, without even breaking any bones, there is naturally no need to pursue the matter further."